Stay safe in the snow

Snow day! It’s time for hot chocolate, making snowmen and of course sledding. It’s all a lot of fun (assuming you don’t have to shovel), but sledding can dangerous for kids if they’re not properly supervised. Here are some tips on how to keep your kid safe this winter.

4 thoughts on “Stay safe in the snow”

Many of these pictures show a parent sharing a sled with their child – sitting behind them. Is that safe? I always thought that the parent may risk injuring the child further if they lose control of the sled.

RB,
Good question.
While there is certainly a risk that the heavier parent could land on their child in a crash and injure them, the risk of that happening is much less than the benefits of improved judgement and steering that an adult provides, especially for younger children.
David Mooney

Cheryl,
I think that helmets are great, and can prevent brain injuries while sledding. The right helmet, though, is a ski/snowboarding helmet and, unfortunately many of the kids who sled don’t ski or snowboard. It’s important to be realistic about injury prevention recommendations, and it’s hard for their families to justify spending the $40 to $100 for a helmet that their child will use a handful of times before they outgrow it. It’s very unusual for a sledder to get a brain injury without running into a stationary object, like a tree or a pole and wearing a helmet, while helpful, does less to prevent injuries than simply picking the right slope, the right snow and the right sled.
David Mooney